Dos and Don’ts in a regulatory consultation meeting

The next step after performing a regulatory intelligence exercise would be followed by an arrangement for a consultation with the regulatory authority. This is common especially for IND application and NDA application in which there may be concerns regarding the documentation requirements or even addressing any critical CMC, pre-clinical and clinical study related questions. Today TRC shall share based on observation from the past on what’s the Dos and Don’ts during a formal regulatory consultation meeting in tabular format:

Note that this is just based on TRC’s suggestion of best practice and we do not advocate or represent any voices.

Dos	Don’ts
Present your best self by dressing appropriately and finding a quiet place to participate in the meeting. Switch on the camera during video call meeting.	Do not appear as an unkempt look or even join the meeting in a noisy place to create unpleasant “white noise” during the meeting. If you are unable to switch on the camera during the call, remember to inform during the meeting.
Ask questions that are within the meeting agenda provided.	Do not ask questions for the sake of asking questions if they are not necessary. In a regulatory meeting, there will be different department personnel joining in. But it would be best to limit those who are executing the work and have an influential decision on how to move the application forward to avoid any unnecessary question or awkward silence to have a need to ask question.
If the explanation is not clear or specific enough even though the time is running out, ask politely whether you could clear out this important issue so as not to leave it hanging.	Do not keep pressuring the regulators to double confirm the answers that they are providing. A written response would be provided at the end of the meeting. If there is anything that is not clear, you can write back again once the email is received.
Be respectful and transparent about the application that you are intending to submit. Give an overview of the application preparation and the objectives of what you intend to achieve within the meeting.	Do not have more than “one” voice interrupting the flow and “ over talking” about the application that you are intending to submit during the meeting to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding which will not provide you with the appropriate response that you are looking for.
Follow a systematic approach to start off the meeting which is by being punctual, following the agenda of the meeting strictly and avoid any over discussion so as to not waste any precious time allocated.	Do not trail off the main questions during discussion and allow the regulator to provide the guidance and ask the next question in sequence unless the question that you have in mind is extremely critical or related to the response that you are hearing.
At the end of the meeting, it’s good to pre-empt or suggest a follow up “informal” call by a designated representative should there be any concern that is not well understood from the formal responses provided.	Consolidate all the queries that you have in mind after reviewing the responses provided by the regulators and avoid bombarding them with calls from different people. They are not your answering machines.

If you think that the above article is useful for you , feel free to share it with your peers and we are also looking forward to hearing some of your experience during consultation meeting. If you require assistance to arrange and support any formal meeting with the local authority, get in touch!

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